Virtual Worlds

Contact Consortium (CCON) is exploring the possibilities of organizing large-scale events in Inhabited Virtual Worlds (IVW)-Cyberspace. CCON held two such events, called Avatars98 (AV98) and Avatars99 (AV99), completely in Cyberspace. These events consisted each time of a conference and trade show. This paper starts with a quick look at the origins of IVWs. The focus is then on the manifold types of social activities that are already possible in IVW and its rapid expansion. One new social phenomenon is the trade show, which was a part of AV98 and AV99. The organization of large-scale commercial events in IVW-Cyberspace is a sign that IVWs are increasingly emancipating themselves from their origins in the realms of pastime and chatting. We applaud this development because social technologies from all social realms should be incorporated in IVWs in order to make them more real ‘worlds’ in the philosophical (cosmological) sense. View of attendees standing at ‘Ground Zero’ at the Avatars98 conference and trade show 2 Bruce Damer et al. 1 Imaginary Organizations and the IVW Movement The landscape of organizational life is rapidly changing. Our information society gives virtual or imaginary organizations (Hedberg et al., 1997: 14) a tremendous opportunity for growth. Imaginary organizations utilize an inspiring vision, information technology, alliances, and other types of networks to initiate and sustain a boundarytranscending activity. They are mainly based on integrative forces such as trust, synergy, and information technology. Contact Consortium (CCON) is such an imaginary organization that is one of the spearheads in the movement to colonize Cyberspace and transform it into a galaxy of interconnected Inhabited Virtual Worlds (IVW). Virtual organizations need largescale events to reinforce and maintain the inspiring vision, necessary for its boundarytranscending activities. Inhabited Virtual Worlds (IVW) on the Internet are a new medium for launching such events. It is important to take the meaning of the concept of ‘world’ to heart. This concept, so much discussed in philosophy, implies an all-encompassing context in which the totality of human activities and experiences is possible (Düsing, 1986). Sociologists use the concept of ‘society’ more or less in the same way. CCON works toward the ideal of transforming IVW into real worlds or societies. It works in that direction by organizing several types of large-scale social events in IVW. In 1998 and 1999, CCON organized a conference and a trade show entirely in a universe of interconnected Virtual Worlds. This growing galaxy of interconnected IVWs is a new social reality. In point 2, we give a short overview of the history of IVWs as a new medium. We pay attention to the different social contexts that were important in shaping them and could become even more important in the future. In our opinion, one of the central developmental influences that will move virtual spaces as such toward really Inhabited Virtual Worlds is the convergence and merging of the various forms of ICT in different social contexts. In point 3, we give a general decription of the central elements of a well-structured, large-scale social event in IVWs, using as our point of reference CCON's experience with AV98. The organization of large-scale events, difficult as it is, is a necessary stepping stone toward the situation in which IVW function on a permanent basis with all the institutions associated with it. Large-scale events in IVW are the laboratory for new institutions in IVWs. Point 4 focus more in depth on the way IVW can be used for marketing purposes. The ‘developmental construct’ of going from traditional trade shows to trade shows in IVW is tentatively sketched. We consider the organization of conferences (conventions) and trade shows in IVW to be the logical conclusion of a series of steps. In point 5, we summarize our experiences derived from AV98 on this particular type of virtual (mass) meeting in IVW and enumerate the lessons we learned. In point 6, we speculate on the future of IVWs. Conferences and Trade Shows in Inhabited Virtual Worlds 3 2 A Short History of Inhabited Virtual Worlds The technological roots of IVW lie in the text-based multi-user environments of the 1970s and ’80s. In the ’90s this continued on the World Wide Web. The next development was the merging of text-based chat channels with a visual interface in which users were represented as ‘Avatars’. By using Avatars, one can feel the emotion of being ‘in world’ without having to bother about complicated – and expensive – VRequipment. For its graphics, the development of 3D-rendering engines, originally used for gaming application, was important. Online IVWs could spread over the Internet because they could run effectively on a large range of consumer computing platforms at modem speeds. There is now a growing literature on IVWs (Damer, 1998, 1999; Powers, 1997, Wilcox, 1998). At this moment, all kinds of IVWs can be observed on the Internet. There are, for instance, the multimillion, multi-user worlds built for gaming by companies. Many IVWs are built for research purposes. Universities and other knowledge centers were quick to observe the possibilities of IVWs for educational purposes. And we should not forget the home brew IVWs, erected by dedicated private persons from all over the world. Having a lot of these IVWs is important because new uses for IVWs can be invented. If we see a new social invention spread from one IVW to others by imitation, the process of spontaneous institutionalization, as sociologists would call it, manifests itself. The rise of e-commerce and digital marketing techniques, such as virtual trade shows, is another new opportunity that can serve as a testing ground for IVWs. In a world in which globalization is supposedly a major trend, organizations will increasingly be adopting the characteristics of virtual or imaginary organizations. Its boundary– transcending activities can be of different kinds. First of all, there is the growing use of computer-moderated collaborative work, done by Virtual Teams recruited from a network of organizations. In the second place, there is the category of boundary-transcending activities of a virtual organization with its (potential) customers and clients. Both types of activities can be done using various technologies. Electronic mail and chat room technologies are still the most frequently used. The trend is towards rich multimedia digital conferencing on the Internet. Various prototypes are being produced at this very moment. The intention is to ‘marry the user-friendliness and pervasiveness of Web-based multimedia browser interfaces with on-line interaction and collaboration, using text, graphics, and voice communications.’ (Bisdikian et al., 1998: 282). However, this approach is still about interfaces; users don't feel like they're in a place. This feeling is of paramount importance in IVW. But we must also stress that the (architectural) attention given the graphical component which creates a ‘place’ must not obscure the important fact that, in the end, IVWs are all about social interactions and the bandwidth of human experience. The medium IVW is, however, still in its infancy. At the July 1998 Avatar conference, consensus emerged that it was too early to know how the medium would ultimately be used and that Avatar-Cyberspace should therefore continue to evolve for its own sake and not to serve possibly inappropriate applications. Each of the 4 Bruce Damer et al. aforementioned realms created a different ‘context of discovery’ for the further development of IVW. It is our belief that putting IVW to the test of applying them to different types of social events will speed up developments. The focus of attention in relation to IVWs will gradually shift away from the technological problems of the interface to the study of social technologies we need to serve up in IVWs different types of social events and in the end really full-fledged societies. 3 Avatars98: The First Large-Scale Event inside IVW 3.1 Event and Technology Platform CCON (www.ccon.org) hosted AV98, the worlds’ first large-scale social event totally online inside Cyberspace, on November 21 1998. DigitalSpace Corporation (www.digitalspace.com) produced AV98 for CC. A number of Virtual World platforms, such as Active Worlds, Blaxxun, Traveler, WorldsAway and Roomancer, and several webcast technologies were used. In the Active Worlds platform the AV98 world, a one-kilometer square space in which a conference hall was constructed, was built as the main focus. This world was designed to be usable by attendees on low-end computers on minimal net connections. The world was populated by specially designed Avatars, animated 3D models of users. It can still be visited by using the browser from www.activeworlds.com and selecting the AV98 world. In relation to the concept of ‘world’, it is important to stress that AV98 was certainly a large-scale event with over 4000 attendees represented as ‘Avatars’. It also encompassed a broad range of types of virtual meetings. 3.2 The Diversity of IVWs The famous sociologist Durkheim called ‘social reality’ a ‘reality in its own’. Cyberspace should also be granted a distinct ontological status If we are speaking about IVWs, the obvious approach is to start by designing IVWs as a kind of simulation and imitation of social life. In later and more complex points of view, we should more and more give meaning to its own and distinct status. Even though still in infancy, they can support several types of social interaction: collaborative work, learning processes, gaming and so on. IVWs can have small meeting spaces, but can also handle mass and large-scale social events and meetings with thousands of attendees from all over the Earth. The diversity of AV98 can be demonstrated by enumerating the types of meeting spaces that the conference hall featured: • a) a lan